NWC Restores Water to 76% of Customers

Water has been restored to 76 per cent of National Water Commission (NWC) customers whose services were disrupted during the passage of Hurricane Melissa on October 28.

Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Matthew Samuda, made the disclosure while giving an update on the Commission’s hurricane recovery plans, at a Special Press Briefing held at Jamaica House on Thursday (November 13).

The Minister informed that of the total 763 NWC systems islandwide, 267 are now active, and 496 systems remain disrupted, leaving 130,000 customers without running water.

He explained that water has been mainly restored to customers living in the plains along the country’s coast as a gravity-fed system is typically used in these areas to distribute water.

“If you live in an elevated area still awaiting power, it is unlikely that you would have water at this stage,” Mr. Samuda said.

He added that in the next three days it is expected that water will be restored to 85 per cent of NWC customers.

Minister Samuda said that restoring water to the remaining 15 per cent of customers will be “particularly challenging” and will require partnering with the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS).

“The last 15 per cent is not achievable without close partnership with JPS. That number will only shrink as those pumps are energised,” the Minister informed.

He stated that the Members of Parliament, Municipal Corporations and the NWC will be engaged to significantly increase the trucking of water to communities where power restoration is not imminent.

“The Prime Minister [Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness] would have announced the allocations given to Members of Parliament to allow them to do their own emergency response. We will be making a similar allocation based on Cabinet’s approval to the municipal authorities, so that they can engage also for their small systems,” Mr. Samuda said.

“I know Minister [of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Floyd] Green made an announcement on Tuesday (November 11) related to trucking for farmers through the NIC (National Irrigation Commission) and the RADA (Rural Agricultural Development Authority) offices, and this will be bolstered by an additional 12 trucks which NWC expects to take possession of very early next week,” he added.

The Government is also procuring 30 additional standby generators which will help communities that have the longest wait to receive power.

This is in addition to plans to procure water tanks by December 31 for distribution in the hurricane-ravaged central and western parishes to assist households that have been damaged and have no access to water.